Up to 2 feet of snow expected to fall atop Sierra

Published:January 31, 2014 9:40AM

Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Survey Program for the Department of Water Resources, walks through a snow covered meadow to conduct the second snow survey of the year near Echo Summit, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014. Despite the overnight snow storm the survey showed the snow depth at 12.4 inches with a water content of only 1.4 inches for this location at this time of the year. Gehrke said that while the recent snow fall will help, it is not enough to impact the water supply.(AP Photo)

Snow is falling Friday in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, lessening the snowpack shortfall that has occurred during the drought that has gripped California.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The first significant winter storm in nearly two months brought heavy snow to the Sierra on Thursday, where up to 2 feet was expected at the upper elevations and more than a half foot of snow forced the closure of schools at Lake Tahoe.

A winter weather advisory remained in effect in the Tahoe area until 4 a.m. Friday, but expired at midmorning Thursday in Reno, where flurries fell with much needed rain on the valley floors and a couple of inches of snow was reported in the foothills.

As much as 8 inches of snow was reported Thursday morning at Gardnerville, 5 inches in Lyon County’s Smith Valley and 4 inches in Carson City and Yerington, the National Weather Service said. More than an inch of rain fell in Verdi just west of Reno.

The state highway from Reno to Virginia City was temporarily shut down while snow plows worked to clear the way to a half dozen minor traffic accidents on the slippery mountain road Thursday morning, and schools were closed there too.

An avalanche warning was in effect along the Sierra’s eastern front from north of Reno south to the Mammoth Lakes area in California.

It marked the first significant snow since up to 3 feet fell above Lake Tahoe in early December.

Ski resort officials said it was allowing them to open up numerous additional runs and trails at Northstar near Truckee, Calif., and Heavenly, Sierra-at-Tahoe and Kirkwood on the south end of the lake.

“This is the break we’ve been looking for,” said Carol Chaplin, executive director of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

The same front brought strong winds into southern Nevada, where a high-wind warning remained in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday in Red Rock Canyon and the Spring Mountains.

Another weak weather system was expected to bring additional light snow accumulations to the Sierra and western Nevada into Friday morning, with an inch or two possible in Reno and Carson City.